Project partners:

Aalborg UniversitetInstitut for samfundsudvikling og planlægning

Project description

The project had the goal to understand the interaction and dependencies in the energy policies of Denmark and Germany. The German electricity supply industry (ESI) was faced with a serious challenge at the end of the 20th century. Global issues such as deregulation, energy and/or CO2 taxes, privatisation and competition have forced the sector to alter its strategy.An overview on the role of German ESI and its current corporate strategies covered the historical background of energy market liberalisation in Europe, the history of the German ESI and the regulatory regime until 1998. This included the resource base and the technological structure, and the ownership structure.A thorough examination of the new regulatory environment of the German ESI covered the reform of the energy supply law, the association agreements for negotiated access to the grid (TPA), and other energy related legislation and regulations, such as the Renewable Energies Support Act (RESA), the CHP support scheme, the German climate change policy, and the Green tax reform.The political strategies of German ESI were evaluated in the core political arena with respect to governmental actors, regulatory goals and models propagated. As phasing out nuclear power in Germany arrived on the agenda after the Federal elections 1998, this issue was thrown light on and possible consequences for the ESI corporate strategies were drawn.The red-green government laid major emphasis on the reform of German energy policy as an integral part of their guiding principle of “ecological modernisation” and made a serious attempt to strengthen the perspectives of renewable energy sources and CHP in Germany. Their status and the standing within political programmes and committed expanding goals were shortly described.

Finally, in the context of the internal dynamics of the German ESI some conclusions were drawn to demonstrate the motivation of the German companies with respect to the Danish electricity system and vice versa.

Publications

Mez, Lutz / Piening, Annette: Current corporate strategies of the German Electricity Supply Industry: A contribution to understanding the internationalisation of the energy markets and the interdependency between German and Danish energy policy. Berlin 2001, 90 S. + Annex.